Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are spending the day with friends and family. I am thankful to God for His mercy and forgiveness, and for the wonderful family He has given me. I'm also thankful that I get to be involved in such an amazing industry--playing and making board games!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Just wanted to mention my Miracle Pill card game is now on Kickstarter with two other Princess Bride card games from some of my designer buds. The goal was $100 and it will run for 10 days only, so it's a smaller campaign. There are currently 6 days left and we are at about $7K. Here's a bit of game info:

Designed by Philip duBarry, two to six players attempt to capture a
little magic in the form of a not-so-little pill that will hopefully
bring the Man In Black back to life! You'll need to create the perfect
mix of ingredients by choosing cards from your hand to create groups of
different types. Each round involves drafting cards and revealing them
all at the same time, building up your ingredients that will eventually
combine together, but remember to follow any immediate instructions that
are revealed! In the third and final round you'll add scoring cards to
your tableau, making those collections of yours finally pay off! Just
remember to cover the finished article in chocolate; we hear that helps
when swallowing the pill...

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Just to recap, Skyway Robbery was successfully funded in the last few minutes! Very exciting--see this update for more details. Here is the funding chart:

It's been a while since I've written a post. I've been working on several new designs behind the scenes. In the meantime, I still have a few more Kickstarters coming very soon. Right now, it looks like Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers will be launching in just a few weeks. Spirits of the Rice Paddy will also be launching soon, but we'll have to see how it all comes together.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Only a few more days remain for the Skyway Robbery campaign. This has been a real challenge. I'm still very much in love with this game and still really want to see it published. Just looking back, I've appeared on 16 podcasts and done 3 written interviews. We got 6 major reviews (all quite positive--some embarrassingly so!). We had at least 4 or 5 people construct the print-and-play version of the game and talk about it in various places. Finally, I did a local event Saturday which was attended by around ten people.

There is still a bit of time to turn things around and hit our goal. The 48-hour reminder notices will be going out soon to loads of potential backers. Kickstarters are weird creatures, and unexpected things can happen quickly. If you are still trying to decide whether or not to jump in, now is the time! Not every Kickstarter project can boast 350+ backers and $20K in pledges, so we have certainly done some things right. Help us finish the campaign! Thanks.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Time for another blog update. Skyway Robbery is right at 60% funded! We are on track to be successful if we keep at it just a while longer--10 days to be exact! That may seem like a short time, but it's fully one-third of the campaign. A lot can (and will, I believe) happen in the next few days--and I'd like you to be a part of it!

In game terms, we have reached the mysterious Underwater Museum of Volmare. It takes a hardy crew to break into this place and steal the giant pearl. Well done!

Please help us find those last few backers as we near the finish line. Here are some of the most recent media appearances and reviews:

Friday, September 5, 2014

Looks like someone at Kickstarter decided to make all the avatars round. Yay. I think Google+ also has round avatars. At any rate, here are a few round icons to help you share your love and support of Skyway Robbery!

And here are the square versions. You know, if you're a square like me. :)

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Time for a quick Skyway Robbery update here on the blog. After only eight days, we have reached 40% of our funding goal! That's like busting into the Glacier Research Facility and nabbing the Power Crystal!

We have plenty of time to finish out the campaign--but only if you will continue to help us by sharing the updates and links. We also need more activity on the BoardGameGeek page. Give some thumbs to all the game images and feel free to dive into the forums. We need a few more eyes on our beautiful art and fantastic gameplay! You can see my latest media appearances toward the bottom of the Kickstarter page.

Also, be sure to spread the word about the reduced shipping costs for backers in Canada and the EU! It took some behind-the-scenes scrambling, but the team came through for us. Grab one of these stylish profile avatars before you head out, and stay tuned for the daring assault on another highly fortified location when we hit the next milestone!

FUN FACT: The first version of the Extreme Explorer card featured a polar bear with a heart over its head in the background!

Oh, yeah. In other news, Fidelitas closed out at 327% of our goal--nearly $40K!!!!! Thanks to Jason for running a textbook campaign and to all the backers for making it happen!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Lock up your jewels and hide your secret treasure maps, because Skyway Robbery will be hitting Kickstarter in the morning! We're running a lean, mean campaign offering an amazing game with fully-upgraded components for an awesome price. Help us spread the word for the next 30 days, thumb a few BGG pics, and join in the fun!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Now on to my final day at GenCon. It was really great being able to spent three whole days there.

Saturday
This day began just a touch later, as I was still recovering from the late night before. Even so, I made it to the hall with enough time to grab a danish before my morning demo time with Game Salute. While waiting in the long line, I got to chatting with the guy behind me. He said he was from Ann Arbor, so like an idiot I said, "Oh, do you know Jason Kotarski?" because everyone from Michigan knows everyone else from there, right? He answered, "Jason who? Should I know him?" At this point I was feeling really dumb. I briefly explained our game Fidelitas and showed him my copy. He brought up the Kickstarter page and said, "I am now a backer!" Cool little moment.

As on Friday, I demoed Miracle Pill and Battle of Wits. Matthew was not with me. I thought maybe he was just sleeping in (he was up with us till 3:30 as well), but it turned out he was scheduled for a later time. After my first group came and went, no one else showed up (even though the event was sold out). I played in the game next door about managing boxing matches.

After this, I headed over for another demo of Spirits of the Rice Paddy. I did manage to find the right table this time, and we played a great 4-player game. One guy said it was the highlight of his con! After this, I headed into the exhibit hall one last time to make at least one purchase. On the advice of T.C. Petty, III, (and because a lot of the newer games were all gone) I decided to buy City of Iron by Ryan Laukat. I've been wanting to try one of his games for a while now, and this one seemed like a good place to start. I have since played a few times, and we really like the game!

My final game of the day was a demo of Skyway Robbery with Chris Kirkman, Stephanie Straw, Dan Patriss, Tiffany Bahnsen, and Dan Halstad. All these folks are podcasters. The game seemed to go well, but we only had time to play a few rounds as there were a lot of distractions and I had to leave by 5:30. Even so, the reactions seemed positive.

My wife brought the kids up to visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum that morning and swung by to pick me up that evening. This was complicated by the Colts game beginning close to that time. It is always funny to watch the facial expressions as the colts fans interact with the GenCon people! We grabbed some dinner and headed home. So ended my GenCon 2014!

FridayAfter a good night's sleep, I went to breakfast with the APE Games crew. We went to this nice little place crammed with other industry people (the Steve Jackson crew was there, too!). Nevertheless, we only had to wait a short time. We then found ourselves seated with another party--all from Cincinnati! It was cool meeting them. We also got in a game of Coup while our food was being cooked.

The first order of business was to demo my Princess Bride game, Miracle Pill, for Game Salute. I was joined by Matthew O'Malley demoing his game, Battle of Wits. We would show a group my game and then switch to his game. This was easy, as each game only took about 10-15 minutes. Lots of fun!

As soon as this ended, I had to hustle over to my next appointment, demoing Spirits of the Rice Paddy. Unfortunately, due to miss-labeled tables, and/or confusion about the demo listing (and my lack of directions), I did not find anyone at the table. Later I found out that one person was waiting at a different table. So I ended up back at the APE Games booth, demoing to Dan Patriss of the Geek Jock Podcast. This was immediately followed by another demo.

At 5:00, I was scheduled to appear on the BGG with Seth Jaffe and Andy Van Zandt to talk about my upcoming Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers. This is a customizable mini-game. The video should be uploaded soon to the BGG page.

After this, I met David Miller of Purple Pawn to show off my games and eat a horrible hotdog/brat. We played Fidelitas, and he immediately became a fan!

Later that night, I got a chance to play some cool prototypes by other designers. TC Petty, III showed us a game based on a short story by Chekhov. Later upcoming designer David Short let us try his real-time zombie card-passing game. Both were pretty neat. In between, I broke out my newest design, a mini-euro area-control game. It BOMBED badly. I'll definitely have to put some more work into this one. Quite embarrassing, but that's how progress is made! The night ended at 3:30 a.m.

Monday, August 18, 2014

GenCon was a blast this year! It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I didn't get any games signed, but I did get a huge amount of demoing in. Here's how it all went down.

Thursday
I got up super early to catch my 6:00 ride. However, at 5:28 I got a text saying my ride woke up with the flu and was not coming! Fortunately, I had a backup plan, named Corey Young (Gravwell). He and his buddy got me within about 1.5 miles of the convention center--close enough!

I got my badge and entered the exhibit hall just after 10:00. Within seconds, I was invited to lunch with John Goodenough of AEG. After talking to lots of folks and walking the hall, I attended said lunch, joined by Andrew Parks (Core Worlds), Chris Parks (Andrew's brother and co-pilot) and Chris Guild (Attack Wing). It was pretty awesome.

After lunch I headed to the APE Games booth to demo Spirits of the Rice Paddy. Soon after setting up, a vaguely familiar face was looking into the booth and requesting a demo. It was none other than Richard "Rahdo" Ham. I recognized him from his wildly popular Youtube series, Rahdo Runs Through, in which he recently reviewed Fidelitas.

We played nearly a whole game, and he seemed to really like it. He also wanted to try Skyway Robbery, so he returned to the booth at the close of the hall and we moved to the gaming halls. We played an entire game of SR, which he also seemed to enjoy. We then headed to the Nerd Night event at Union Station organized by JR Honeycutt, where I got to play in the first 20-player game of Space Cadets Dice Duel with Geoff Englestein and his kids (our ship was ordered to sacrifice itself for the greater good).

It was a long day, but hanging out with Rahdo for HOURS was definitely the highlight of the con. The next day, I discovered that he had recorded his sleep-deprived thoughts of the day and uploaded them. The last ten minutes are all about my games. I saw people watching this the next two days!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

It's that time again! The massive gaming convention that is GenCon is about to begin--and I get to be there for it!

I'll be around, Thursday-Saturday, chatting with friends, making deals, taking names, etc. I'll also be demoing several of my upcoming games: Spirits of the Rice Paddy, Skyway Robbery, Fidelitas, Miracle Pill, Hitler Must Die, as well as Battlecruisers and a few yet-to-be-announced prototypes.

If you'd like to check out any of these games or just say Hi, here's my roughed-out schedule for the con:

Friday
10:00am-1:00pm - Demoing for Game Salute in Hall D (Princess Bride games).
1:00pm-3:30pm - Demoing Spirits of the Rice Paddy (Hall E, Red Table #14).
Evening - Demoing games in open gaming or maybe the games library. Drop me a line at BGG or on Twitter to set something up.

Also, in other news, we just passed the $22K mark for our Fidelitas campaign! So far backers have earned the Manu Forti expansion, the Castle & Harbor cards, and a wooden first player token. The next stretch goal is the Candlestick Maker:

Friday, August 8, 2014

These two cards may not sound like much (hey, it's no 8-card expansion), but you can do something pretty nifty with them. Apart from more clearly marking the ends of the board, you will now be able to play a special variant.

In this variant, you begin the game by shuffling the five location cards and the harbor and castle together. You then place these randomly to form the board. A random board changes several of the cards. For example, the Dockmaster lets you move a card from each of the locations adjacent to the harbor. In this variant, that might be four different places. Anyway, hope that shakes things up for you! Thanks for all your support.

Monday, August 4, 2014

After less than four days on Kickstarter, Fidelitas has reached and surpassed it's goal! Thanks to all the many backers for their continued support of the project. Jason has now revealed the first stretch goal of the campaign--the Manu Forte expansion:

Friday, August 1, 2014

As you can see to the right, the Fidelitas Kickstarter is now live. Co-designer and publisher Jason Kotarski pushed the button at 8:00 this morning. I was still asleep.

As I write this (about twelve hours later) the project has already reached about 40% of the $12K funding goal! I've always wanted to be a part of a hot Kickstarter project, and now I am!

Thanks to all of you who have already backed our project--the early support is huge for these things! We have some great stretch goals planned, so stay tuned for more once we get closer to our goal.

If you haven't heard about the game yet (75 cards, 2-4 players, 20-30 minutes), here's the short version from the BGG page:

"In Fidelitas, players take on the role of
faithful citizens in a medieval city who are exerting influence in order
to gain the credibility needed to lead the charge against the corrupt
crown.Players play character cards to various locations that make up the
city in order to meet conditions of hidden objectives. Each type of
character card is associated with a unique action that manipulates cards
in the game: the Butcher bullies other characters to new locations, the
Student gains more cards, the Soldier keeps the peasants from loitering
too long, etc. In this game where keen maneuvering is key,
attentiveness to the opposition may uncover hidden motives that seek to
foil your bid for power.The first player to gain a certain number points (depending on the
number of players) is determined worthy to lead the revolt and also wins
the game."

The project page has about 350 (something like that) links to reviews and walkthroughs. Jason sent out quite a few preview copies, and the initial impressions have been overwhelmingly positive. As with Courtier, I'm enjoying all the various pronunciations of "Fidelitas." fi-dil-EE-tas is just golden.

Anyway, it's been a cool day, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of the project plays out. I hope you'll consider joining the party before too long--thanks!

Monday, July 7, 2014

I believe I mentioned several Kickstarter campaigns that would be happening for my games this summer. As is the custom of the game industry, the timetables have been pushed back a bit. The new schedule is as follows:

Early-August: Fidelitas
Strangely enough, the game I thought would show up last will in fact be first. Fidelitas is the first game I've ever co-designed. Jason Kotarski sent me an early version of this game about a year ago, and I somehow got the crazy idea to propose co-designing it. Even crazier, he went along with it! From there we hit it off, turning this cards-only game into a game with a board and then back again.

Lately, Jason has gone off the deep end--forming his own game company and building up a swell of support for the game all in the blink of an eye. The game now has beautiful art and plays better than either of us first imagined. Also, we had our first in-depth review of the game from All Us Geeks podcast. They discuss our game from 0:30 to 0:50. I am super-excited to see where this one goes!

Late-August: Skyway Robbery
I got the word today that this one will be pushed back to after GenCon. I'm cool with that. Last week I made a few videos for the Kickstarter campaign, but it will be nice giving all the reviewers more time. Plus, we get another big con to show the game. Meanwhile, we are still tightening the design ever so slightly with some last minute tweaks and corrections.

Mid-September: Spirits of the Rice Paddy
Finally, my big euro game will be going up on Kickstarter in the fall. I'm promised a final prototype (that I don't have to make myself!) will be ready any day. From what I've seen, everything is coming together nicely. Someone even made a BGG microbadge for us today. :)

If you are interested in trying any (all?) of these games, I will have them all at GenCon Thursday through Saturday. I would love to show them to you! Just let me know. In the meantime, enjoy the summer!

Monday, June 23, 2014

I just wanted to share a quick recap of our whirlwind Origins experience this year. Isabel and I got to attend on Saturday. We got to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. Here's how it went:

7:15 - left Cincinnati for Origins.
9:15 - picked up badges and headed to the open board gaming area to kill time until 10:00 (when the exhibit hall opened).
9:30 - ran into Tom Vasel and a big group of his well-know buddies, so I got to show off my Skyway Robbery prototype to them. They seemed to be intrigued by it.
9:45 - happened by the AEG area and ended up showing off my one new design I brought and chatting with John Goodenough for a surprisingly long time.
11:00 - finally got to the exhibit hall
11:30 - met Jason Kotarski to see our new version of Fidelitas. We also got to do a bit of podcasting. This game should be on Kickstarter around August.
12:15 - picked up my copies of Family Vacation from the Jolly Roger Games booth. The final version looks pretty good, but there are a few minor printing/editing errors. Lugged the six copies back to the car.
1:00 - ate lunch at the North Market. I had a nice Reuben and a fantastic chocolate eclair.
2:00 - headed into the board room area (ribbon not really needed this year) to do demos of Skyway Robbery. We got one started with a nice couple. They seemed to enjoy it.
4:00 - got Dan Patriss and another friend to play Skyway Robbery. Another good demo session.
6:00 - stood around chatting and eating pizza, trying to get another demo in. The guys at the next table were doing the same thing, as was Ryan Metzler a few tables over. However, things really slowed down at this point.
8:00 - headed home. We would probably have gotten another demo in if we had waited until 9:00 or 10:00, but I didn't want to be out so late. It was nice getting home in time to unwind a bit.

All in all, a good day at Origins 2014! I almost bought several games, but ended up not pulling the trigger on anything. I am already getting excited about GenCon. This year, I'll be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It will be nice having all the extra time.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Just thought I'd share a few pictures of the final Skyway Robbery prototype. I got everything printed last week and finally got it all cut and glued together. I am incredibly pleased with how it all looks and how it plays!

This is going to be one big, heavy box. There are lots of nice components.

The board is a massive 33" x 22". And there are fairly large player boards too. You're going to need a very large table.

Giant-sized location boards fit right on the board. They are just oozing with fantastic art!

The action cards for each player are made to look like passports. Dann May at Game Salute is a genius!

Playing this game with such amazing art is just the most wonderful feeling. After all the years of hard work, my game has finally come to life. And it's so much better than I even dared to hope!

Here's a pic of our first game. Don't be fooled--it's more for the 13+ crowd, but when your dad is a game designer, you get roped into playing just about everything.

I am eagerly looking forward to Origins this week. Isabel and I will be there Saturday only. I will be demoing this game and a few others at the Unpub area that night (unless the Unpub folks are in the Board Room again--in which case, I'll be in open gaming). Look for the Blue Noodle!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Time for my monthly blog post . . . just know that when I'm not sharing news and writing articles on this site, I'm working on really cool games that will be unveiled at a later date. Right now it's time to post a quick update about my INCREDIBLY BUSY SUMMER plans.

In June I'll be attending Origins again, but (just like last year) only on the Saturday. I'll also be bringing Isabel again. I only have a few new prototypes to show around. Otherwise, I'll have several soon-to-be-kickstarted games with me (see below for more details). Oh, and Family Vacation will be available for purchase at the con!

July will be jam-packed with, not one, but TWO Kickstarters! Isn't that a little crazy? Yes. But with five kids, I live in crazytown every day! Each Kickstarter will be with a different company, so that will help a bit. Plus, each game has a slightly different target audience.

Skyway Robbery, a steam-punk, card-driven heist game, just drips with awesome. The art is magnificent (you would not believe the $$$ that cost!), and I'm very happy with where the gameplay is. I'm very jazzed! Check out the BGG page to see more.

And then, Spirits of the Rice Paddy is probably the most complex game I've ever designed. Kevin Brusky and the APE Games team have done an amazing job fine-tuning this heavy-hitter into a sleek, elegant experience. The artwork and layout is currently underway, but things are happening quickly. I'm hoping the true eurogamers will end up loving this game as much as we do!

NOTE:Podcasters and Reviewers - we are currently scheduling media opportunities for both of these games for June and mid-July. Please contact me if you are interested in getting a copy to review and/or doing a short interview with me. Thanks!

August brings GenCon. I plan to attend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this year. I'll be demoing for Game Salute (mostly the new Princess Bride games) Fri and Sat 10:00-1:00. I'll also be demoing SotRP and a few other games at various other times. Let me know if you are interested in trying out one of my games, and we'll work out a time!

August will also be bringing . . . yet another Kickstarter! This project is in conjunction with designer Jason Kotarski (of Heartland Hauling fame). More about this later . . .

Add to all this a few major church activities (a week of Bible School and a week of Junior Camp), and I'm in for a crazy busy time. Sorry to dump all that at one time, but, well, I've got to get back to work!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

With your help, we made our funding goal for Tiger Stripes! Woo-hoo! Thank you so much for all the support. Whether you shared, retweeted, backed or prayed, Isabel and I want to express our gratitude. We'll be making a little "Thanks" video tonight as part of the celebrations!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Thanks to everyone who has posted, shared, retweeted and backed Tiger Stripes! We are ridiculously close to making our goal. But we aren't there yet. Currently, we have 32 hours to raise another $525. You can help us during our final push to the finish line. Please continue to share our Kickstarter link throughout the day. Some of you might also be able to increase your pledge amount--Christmas is December 25th this year! Again, thanks so much for your help. Isabel really appreciates it!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

As I'm writing this, we have only 68 hours to fund Isabel's Tiger Stripes game on Kickstarter. We need just a handful of backers to make it over the top. Please consider backing this project or sharing the KS link in this final stage of our campaign. Thanks!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

As a sometimes substitute teacher, I often face long stretches of sitting at a desk with not much to do (that is, if the kids are all behaving reasonably well). Usually I read. However, the other day I took some time looking into a game design problem.

One of my upcoming games is called Hitler Must Die. It's a gritty cooperative game where players are German citizens, soldiers, and officials trying to assassinate the tyrannical leader of Nazi Germany. In the game, players collect cards and items (combined with location and timing) to setup a successful plot. The game ends with a single roll of the dice. There are many variables and modifiers going into this dice roll, but players just have to roll a high enough total to overcome the current threshold (determined by Hitler's security stance and military support). Rolling well will mean winning the game. Rolling badly doesn't necessary mean you lose, but it makes things much, much worse.

My game design problem is trying to figure out the probabilities for some of these dice rolls. We are used to dealing with the bell curve of the output of two six-sided dice, such as in games like Settlers of Catan. Rolling a 7 is much more likely than rolling a 2. However, what does it look like when you are trying to hit a threshold using the total of the dice? Here is my chart:

Please know that I'm not a mathematician by any means. It was quite a struggle to get this right--and there might still be a few inaccuracies. Nevertheless, I think I've gotten pretty close. I figured out the probability for each threshold and graphed the results. What you see here is the probability of getting at or above a certain total of the dice (both 2 and 3 are shown). The higher the total you are aiming for, the less chance you have of hitting it. This is not surprising. However, what I did find interesting was the shape of the curve. Your chances are greater than you might suspect at the top and bottom of the graph.

I've not spent much time applying this to game design, but you can quickly see some of the possibilities. For example, you can see the improvement of your odds by adding another dice. I imagine this would increase in a similar way for four dice (but I haven't checked yet). You can also see how changing the target threshold would make things easier or harder for players and by how much. I can imagine having players buy extra dice or buy an easier threshold in a game. I'd also like to graph something beside standard 6-sided dice. That could be interesting to play with. Feel free to use this information as you see fit. I'm sure there are other websites that lay this out in more detail, but I thought I'd pass this along anyway. Happy game designing!

Monday, March 10, 2014

The Tiger Stripes campaign is going well--we are nearly halfway to our goal of $3,500! To make things more interesting and to continue our momentum, we are going to do a little contest. Here's how it will work:

1. This contest will run from today until next Monday, March 17, at 12:00 noon.

2. You can get one entry for posting a link to the Kickstarter page on all of the following: Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media site of your choice. Below is an image to pin if you are into Pinterest. Let us know you did this in the comment section below.

3. You can get a second entry for writing a short article about the game on your blog or placing a Kickstarter page widget on your blog (click on "Embed" under the Kickstarter video). Let us know you did this in the comments below with a link to your blog.

4. You can get a third entry by backing the project at the $35+ level. People who have backed the project before today will still get an entry.

5. Family (and people who are almost family) will not be eligible for this contest. :(
Of course, we still want you to post and share out of the goodness of your heart!

6. The winner will be chosen next Monday night and announced by Tuesday, March 18. The winner will get to choose one of the following prizes:
- Revolution! & The Palace Expansion
- Kingdom of Solomon & Chronicles Expansion
- Courtier
- Canalis

Your game will be signed (if desired) and shipped free of charge (lower 48 USA only). If you live outside the USA, I will pay the first $10 of shipping and you will be responsible for the rest.

Your chances of winning one of these prizes is pretty good! Take advantage of this exciting contest and help a young designer realize her dream!

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What is this blog about?

I am a board game designer with several published titles and more on the way. Mostly this blog provides *somewhat* timely updates on my various projects and interests. I have also included some tips and tricks, recommendations of materials, suppliers and techniques, as well as discussion of various board games and design issues. Thanks for stopping by!